AN ENGLISH language course that turns London into a classroom for adult learners on short study breaks has triumphed at the British Council Innovation Awards for English language teaching products and services (known as the ELTONS) announced last week in London, UK.
According to the council, the awards are the Oscars of the ELT world. They are offered to outstanding new language learning resources which use innovative ideas to help learners of English to achieve their goals.
Aimed at students on holiday courses, the winner "English Language Cultural Experience" was designed by the Camden College of English, London, UK. It abandons traditional blackboards and textbooks. The course units are based in different museums, galleries and other sites of cultural or historical importance in London. The council said the course was a "truly 3-D learning environment that combines language, history and culture into a single package", allowing students to learn English while seeing the sites.
Stuart Rubenstein, the principal of the college, said the idea for the course came after taking a group of language students to a museum to watch a video presentation, reports Guardian Weekly. "The students got very bored," he said. He realized that while people were happy to be students in the morning, they wanted a more touristy experience in the afternoon. He and his wife put their heads together and came up with what Rubenstein describes as a "living course book".
The second winner, "Teachers Exploring Tasks" from the University of Birmingham and Aston University, UK, is a collection of articles designed to encourage teachers to assess their classroom practice. The book gives language teachers insights into how their lessons can be designed, adapted and implemented.
The third winner is Macmillan Education's "Bugs" multimedia course, a primary course which provides a package of fully integrated book and multimedia components. The course guides children through a series of adventure and detective stories, designed to motivate young learners.
John Whitehead, the British Council's director of English, said the winners "are among the most imaginative and exciting we have seen since the awards were launched four years ago.
"We are still seeing a massive growth in the number of English learners. The winners here today show that we continue to triumph in providing the highest quality products and services in the language teaching industry." Whitehead added.
